I I honestly have no idea where to start but I have to do it somehow, so I'll just say that I'm Sasha and I've been making some vegan and macrobiotic desserts for about two years now, and finally I've decided to write about it just for the sake of keeping all the recipes in one place.
I started with the brilliant book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, which was a great start for me, although those guys use sugar in their recipes (and lots of it in their icings), which I don't do - I use natural grain and vegetable sweeteners like maple syrup, barley malt, rice syrup and agave.
So I had to come out with my adjustments to the ingredients, because the sweeteners I use are in liquid form.
Plus, I don't do any of the icings, because they require shedloads of sugar again and - in a vegan version - quite a lot of margarine, so my cupcakes look a bit simpler than they could do without all this pretty but unhealthy stuff on top.
Everytime it's quite a challenge to decorate them using only sugar-free and natural stuff for them to look as nice as the traditional cupcakes. I use fresh, freeze-dried and stewed fruit, nuts, dark chocolate, vegan marzipan and toppings free from dairy, fat and sugar.
These are chocolate and mint cupcakes topped with dairy-free chocolate ganache (made with soy cream)
Makes about 15 small cupcakes or 8 big ones (in regular muffin liners):
Ingredients:
1 cup soy or oat milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
2/3 cup agave syrup
1/3 cup sunflower or grapeseed oil
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 tsp natural mint extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/3 cup wholemeal flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
generous pinch of sea salt
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line cupcake or muffin tray with paper liners
2. Pour soy milk and vinegar in a big bowl and mix with the whisk. Add the oil, agave syrup and the extracts to the milk misture. Try to measure oil first, and then measure agave or any syrup you use in the same cup - it will glide out much easier. Beat the mixture till nice and smooth.
3. Place a fine sieve on top of the bowl and sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix with the wisk till no lumps remain, but try not to overmix.
4. Pour the mixture in the liners with a small ladle or ice scoop, filling 3/4 of the liners. I prefer cupcakes being slightly above the rim, so I never fill only halfway as many recipes suggest, because in this case quite often there will be a stripe of the liner above the cake.
Bake the cakes about 28-30 minutes, but may depend on the oven. Check with the wooden toothpick put in the middle of a few cupcakes - it should come out dry or with just a couple of tiny dry crumbs.
Try not to open the oven before you think they're about to be ready, otherwise perfectly risen cupcakes may sink.
The chocolate ganache is from the aforementioned Isa and Terry's book:
Quick melty ganache
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp of soy cream (milk works too)
1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips (I usually use broken bar of Green&Black dark chocolate)
Method:
Heat soy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat till just about to simmer. Remove from heat, add the chips and stir them in, until completely incorporated. Set aside for 10 minutes.
When cooled and stiffened, you put it in the pastry bag and pipe on the cooled cupcakes, or smear the ganache on top of the cupcakes with the spatula or wide knife, like I did. Decorate the top with small leaves of fresh mint.
